Working in the world of Unified Communications. Personal blog bringing news and opinion on UC.

Attempting to generate a definition of UC is close to impossible as the term has now taken on many different definitions within the industry, so when a general term has many different meanings it creates confusion rather than clarity.   I don’t see any great issue with this but some people (typically analysts) seem to get very upset by not following (typically their own) definition.  It is incumbent on every Enterprise to define their own version of UC and given the combination of an amorphous industry term and a complex set of technologies it is likely that each Enterprise vision of UC is different.

This for me brings an interesting question; because UC implementations will be different does this create an opportunity for a CIO to create competitive advantage for their business?  I believe it is.  UC implemented correctly creates significant business value and does not increase revenue costs.  All too often however UC is implemented badly which not only confines the business it serves but can also cost a large amount of revenue.

So get UC and enable the business at neutral costs get it wrong and hinder your business while wasting money.  By the way if you are asking ‘does my business really need UC?’ you need alot of help.

Below is the UC architecture that, given a blank sheet of paper I would define as UC.  Also included are the major dependancies of UC on Infrastructure and Content Creation.  Without the right infrastructure and ability for the business to create content UC will be less effective.